Syracuse University tackle Jason Bromley: "Being the best I can be can only help my team"

Syracuse, NY -- I had a chance to sit down with Syracuse University true freshman defensive tackle Jason Bromley on Tuesday for a story that appeared in today's Post-Standard and on syracuse.com. A video accompanied the piece. Story and video were edited, but I was so impressed with Jay's responses I thought it was worthwhile to supply the entire interview. Here it is:

On whether he followed recruiting in high school: "My story is different from everybody else’s story, so I didn’t follow it. I just go with the flow, so to speak."

On the recruiting "star" system: "A five-star is no different than a person who is good on a team that doesn’t get any recognition."

On his plans before being discovered at an all-star game: "I was preparing myself to go to prep school. That was my only thought. My only thought was to play in the all-star game as good as I could and do something so everybody would recognize me, hopefully, and then go to prep school and get better from there."

On sacking future SU teammate John Kinder several times in that game: "Yeah, man. Me and Kinder, we’re close now. We got close that game, but we’re close now, too. I probably hit him at least five, six times that game."

On what happened next: "Now I get blessed to come here, to be in the situation I'm in now. Penn State showed a little interest, wanted to see what they could do, but Syracuse showed me a lot of love, that if I came here it would be a good situation for me. So far they haven’t let me down."

So now you're here and just like that are in a rotation at tackle. Have you had to pinch yourself at all? "To be honest, it comes to the point where I owe credit to my coaches back home. I just keep working. That was the reason I was able to go to that all-star game and become MVP, because I don’t stop working. I always feel there is something for me to improve. No matter what string I am, I still feel I have to work harder than anybody. When I’m on the field no matter what I do, every play has to get a little better."

Were you intimidated at first? "You see these guys and think they're so much bigger in pads and everything. There's that anxiety. How are these guys going to hit? But I've been here more than a month and it’s natural for me now. I feel like I’m just as good as everybody else, like I’m in there, I can do it."

What do you need to improve on? "Everything. I want to help my team as much as possible. Me improving, me being the best I can be can only help my team. Me being a true freshman with Coach (Jimmy) Brumbaugh, that makes it better for me because I can learn things more than the seniors because the seniors are stuck in their ways, how they were taught before and learning now how to do it. But me, I’m teachable.

On the end game: "To be honest with you, I want to be the best I can be, period. Where that ranks me when all is said and done, hopefully it’s at the top. I figure if I keep working, good things will come."

On meeting fellow NYC star Dominique Easley, a five-star recruit at DT: "I met him. I went to Penn State and I met him. Me and him were cool. I knew Dominique Easley. Of course. My junior year I knew Dominique Easley because my coach was like, ‘Look at him. That dude’s real.’ I was like yeah, the kid is real good, he’s one of the best, no doubt, coming out of my class. I just felt that coming out of high school I didn’t get a lot of recognition. I’m 100 percent better now than I was back then, but as far as recognition goes, I always felt like I was a top-5 d-lineman in the city, period. I felt like I could play up there with Dominique Easley. You put me and him on the same team it would be a different story. But he’s a fantastic player, and I wish him the best at Florida. I just want to get better from here on out."